2014 Hall of Fame

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Ethelee Davidson Baxter

Her Honor, Ethelee Davidson Baxter, was born in Jackson, Ky., in 1939, and was raised in Lexington, Ky. Baxter graduated from Lafayette High School in 1957 and was inducted into the first class of the Lafayette High School Hall of Fame in 1989. She graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in English, Speech and Drama. While at UK, she was a Wildcat cheerleader, President of the Blue Marlins synchronized swimming team, and a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

In 1970, Baxter and her family moved to San Francisco, Calif., where she received her Juris Doctor degree from Golden Gate University School of Law in 1974, followed by a Masters of Law in 2009. She practiced law in San Francisco until 1982 when she was appointed Commissioner to the San Francisco Superior Court.

Baxter was appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian to the San Francisco Municipal Court in 1987 and by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1992 to the San Francisco Superior Court, where she presided over the Family Law and the Criminal Felony Trial departments.

Robert Straus Lipman

Robert Straus Lipman was born in 1952 in Nashville, Tenn. He received his bachelor’s degree in General Studies from the University of Kentucky in 1974. While at UK, Lipman was a cheerleader and a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity.

Today, Robert Lipman is President and CEO of Lipman Brothers, Inc., a third-generation family business with its roots in Franklin, Ky., and the RS Lipman Company. Both companies are based in Nashville, with additional facilities in East Tennessee. Lipman Brothers was established in 1939 and holds License Permit no. 1, making it the oldest distributor of wine and spirits in Tennessee. It is also the largest independent distributor in the state. Lipman is active within the industry and is a former Chairman and President of the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of America. He received the organization’s Lifetime Leadership Award in 2008.

Lipman was an early member of the Arts & Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board and is a current member of the Dean’s National Strategy Council. He is a lifetime member of the UK Alumni Association and a founding member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Alumni Association. In 2001, he created the Research Fund for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse in the UK Department of Psychology. More recently, he has established the Robert S. Lipman Graduate Fellowships in History and Psychology to enhance recruitment of top graduate students to the University.

Jill M. Rappis

Jill M. Rappis earned her bachelor's degree in English in 1980 from the University of Kentucky and her Law degree in 1984 from Marquette University Law School where she was a member of the Law Review and recipient of the St. Thomas More Scholarship.

She is the Vice President and General Counsel for Loyola University Health System (LUHS), an academic health system located in the near western suburbs of Chicago, Ill. She is responsible for the legal affairs of LUHS and its subsidiaries, and serves as Corporate Secretary to the Boards of Directors for those entities. She also functions as regional Managing Counsel for CHE-Trinity Health, one of the nation’s largest Catholic health systems, serving patients and communities in 21 states.

Rappis joined LUHS in 1997, serving as Deputy General Counsel until 2011. She has extensive background in healthcare legal matters including corporate risk management, clinical research, planned giving, physician contracting, governance, and litigation. Prior to LUHS, she served as Assistant General Counsel for Loyola University of Chicago. Previously, she was a litigation attorney with the law firm of Rooks, Pitts and Poust (subsequently known as Dykema) in Chicago.

George H. Scherr

George H. Scherr is a bacteriologist, researcher and inventor, currently residing in Highland Park, Ill. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Queen’s College in 1941 – majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry – and studied chemistry at Princeton University before pursuing graduate study at the University of Kentucky. Scherr graduated from UK with a master’s degree in 1949 and a doctorate in 1951 in microbiology, focusing on bacteriology and cytogenetics.

Before receiving his graduate degrees, Scherr worked as a bacteriologist and researcher for the New York City Department of Health, the U.S. Civil Service Commission and the Biological Warfare Service. Following the completion of his doctorate, he served as an assistant professor of microbiology at the Creighton University School of Medicine and as an associate professor of bacteriology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

Much of Scherr’s research has been dedicated to developing methods for stopping life-threatening infections.Through experiments with silver nitrate and sodium alginate, Scherr was able to create the royal silver alginate bandage, a wound dressing that keeps lesions sterile and prevents bacteria from multiplying. He gave the rights to his discovery to three companies – one in the US, one in Ireland and one in India – allowing this important infection-fighting tool to reach virtually all corners of the globe.

2014 FACULTY INDUCTEES

George C. Herring

George C. Herring is Alumni Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Kentucky. A native of Blacksburg, Va., he received a bachelor's degree from Roanoke College and after service in the U.S. Navy he earned both master's and doctorate degrees in History from the University of Virginia. He joined the UK faculty in 1969 after four years at Ohio University.

At UK, he taught classes at all levels, from introductory survey courses in U.S. history to graduate seminars. He directed the work of thirty-five doctoral students and more than fifty M.A. students. He is a recipient of the UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award and the Sturgill Award for Excellence in Graduate Education. He served three terms as history department chair and was acting director of the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce in the spring of 2005.

A specialist in the history of U.S. foreign relations, his writing has focused on the Vietnam War and includes most importantly, “America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975,” the fifth edition of which was published in 2013.

Keith B. MacAdam

Keith B. MacAdam was born in Rochester, N.Y., attended Swarthmore College and earned a doctorate in Physics at Harvard in 1971. After research at University of Stirling in Scotland, Yale University, and the University of Arizona, he came to UK as an Assistant Professor in 1977. He built a campus-based research program in experimental atomic-molecular-optical (AMO) physics with students and post-docs, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Research Corporation. He was appointed Professor of Physics in 1986 and was a University Research Professor in 1990-91.

MacAdam’s research in crossed-beam collisions between charged particles and laser-excited atoms in highly excited “Rydberg” states was widely recognized in the international AMO physics community. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1987. Research in Aarhus, Denmark, Boulder, Colo., and Stockholm, Sweden, extended his international connections.

At UK MacAdam was active in all aspects of teaching, research and service. He taught with success at levels from first-year to graduate, and he introduced and continues to teach a non-majors’ physics course “How Things Work.” He served as Chair of the Department of Physics & Astronomy (1997-2001), on the College Executive Committee (Chair, 2007-08) and on many campus-wide committees. MacAdam was honored by the naming of the UK MacAdam Student Observatory, which opened in 2008 to serve the campus and community.